I give interviews for Admissions and one of the questions I always get is about the opportunities here. Prospective students always want to know: How easy is it to get internships? How many resources are available for finding these jobs? Is it worth spending the time off campus? I answer that almost everyone I know has had at least one fantastic internship experience and that, depending on where you’re looking, professors and organizations are normally very eager to take on college students to teach them the ropes. It’s easy – but it definitely takes effort on your part to seek them out.
Though no matter how many times I say that, my friends still always marvel over how easily I seem to get internships. They always rag on me about how padded my resume must be and how much I must schmooze during my interviews, for me to be as lucky as I’ve been in the job department. The process must look like this on the outside: I send my resume, I get called for an interview, I get offered the internship almost immediately, I start working and I fall in love with it. And really, it’s true that I’ve been blessed to be able to work in Media Relations at the National Aquarium and in Public Relations at Twinkle – but what my friends and the students I interview can’t possibly see is all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into it. So, in an effort to shed some light on how this whole “internship” thing really works, I’m going to walk you through the process through which I got my next internship, an editorial job with Girls’ Life Magazine for Spring 2010.
Step One is the search. This part, I think, is the part of the process that varies the most from person to person. For me, it consists of a little bit of everything: word of mouth, seeking out specific institutions {like I did for the Aquarium job}, actual job/internship search engines, special blogs dedicated to a particular field {like I did for Twinkle}, and random Google searches for the field/type of company I’m looking for. Some people also make use of professor recommendations and the Career Center. For me, this particular search was a little unconventional since Girls’ Life used to practically be my Bible as a tween. I knew that their national office was in Baltimore when I was coming to Hopkins, so I think it has always been on my “College To Do” list to see if I could work there.
Step Two is applying. Once you find an internship that interests you and you have contact information {either an email address or post address}, you need an up-to-date resume and a cover letter. Depending on the internship, they’ll ask for more – writing samples, responses to short answer questions {usually can be addressed in your cover letter though}, references, etc. but those things are crucial. Basically, you have about a 5 second glance to sell yourself to these people, so your resume should have key internships/jobs that you have had and any relevant involvement on campus {especially if you’ve held a leadership role} with brief descriptions, plus information about your education. Your cover letter should talk about why you’re interested in the position, what kind of skills you could bring to it, and what you hope to get out of it. It kind of sounds like bragging sometimes, but you can’t be afraid to gush about yourself – if you
don’t sound confident about your abilities, why would they be confident enough in them to hire you?
Right now, I think it’s important to note that a lot of my internship journeys end on the bridge between Step Two and Step Three. One thing that my teasing friends don’t see is all of the emails I sent out that don’t get a reply at all. You can’t ever accuse me of not aiming for the stars – I set the bar really high for myself and, sometimes, I probably overdo Step Two a bit. But, as bad as I am at making them, I love having choices and I would much rather apply to too many and get rejected/ignored than always wonder, “What if I had sent an email to X company?”
Anyway, on to Step Three: the interview. I’ve had both phone interviews and in-person interviews, and they all go differently depending on the person you’re speaking with. All of the interviews I’ve had have been a good balance between formal and informal – you’re allowed to be friendly and warm, but at the same time you need to appear professional and responsible. They typically ask you questions about your background of work, what you’re looking to learn/do on the job, why you would be a good candidate, what career goals you have for the future, and some tough “test” questions that are relevant to the field. As an example, one of my questions in my GL interview was about pitching ideas at a staff meeting – and I completely bombed it. But I know that’s a skill that I will learn, and it’s a good lesson too, that one question generally won’t make or break an interview. And it also proves that it is worth taking your time, thinking about your answers, and giving good responses – it isn’t a race to answer them!
Step Four is the offer. It is a fantastic feeling to get the phone call/email offering you the job! After you let yourself be excited for a little bit {you’ve earned it}, you need to respond to the offer – which can be hard if you have a decision to make. Last summer, I was offered an editorial internship at an art magazine in Brooklyn and my PR job at Twinkle. It was so hard to decide between them because they were both so different and yet I knew I would be really satisfied at either of them. It ultimately came down to the fact that Twinkle would be an easier commute and that I had a childhood dream of working in the fashion industry – and, luckily, I will still be able to get experience in the magazine industry with my job at GL. That just goes to show you that choosing one over the other rarely means completely shutting the door on an opportunity forever!
Then, once you accept the offer, you need to plan your schedule to work with the job. This isn’t really a challenge in the summer, but during the school year it’s smart to register for classes in a way so that you have at least two full days free - which can get challenging at times, especially when you have required classes that you have to take {but I've done it twice - it's possible!}. And then there’s the task of convincing your family that an unpaid internship will help you out in the future…and that process is different for everyone, too.
Step Five is, arguably, the least stressful part of all – the preparation. I definitely don’t have enough money in my bank account for this step to really be a necessity but, for some reason, a new job always requires some new pieces of clothing to be added to my wardrobe. This year, my new clothes have come in the form of Christmas presents from my parents: a new pair of boots, some new pairs of jeans {proper attire, depending on the company and what you pair them with}, etc. When you’re in a new environment and need to make a good impression, sometimes looking the part will make you much more confident to actually be the part.
And Step Six is the first day. I’ve already written a short blog entry about my first day at Twinkle – but you’ll all just have to stay tuned for a report on my first day at Girls' Life!
P.S.
Let's all just take a minute to enjoy this trailer for the movie Nine, which is coming out on Christmas. If you know anything about me, you know I'm pretty much the ideal Fellini fan. I love excess and luxury, the baroque, richness, men in suits, sleek cars, daydreaming, Italy, spontaneous singing and dancing, people living their lives in possibly-destructive-yet-completely-fulfilling ways, charming confusion. I love romance. And, since Nine is based off a musical which was based off the Fellini film 8 1/2, I will love that too.
um, i love GL and started readin git when I was 10...and i just stopped reading it a few yrs ago lol...congrats!!!
Posted by: JHU_Dominique | November 29, 2009 at 12:11 AM